The accessory helix of complexin functions by stabilizing central helix secondary structure

The presynaptic protein complexin (CPX) is a critical regulator of synaptic vesicle fusion, but the mechanisms underlying its regulatory effects are not well understood. Its highly conserved central helix (CH) directly binds the ternary SNARE complex and is required for all known CPX functions. The adjacent accessory helix (AH) is not conserved despite also playing an important role in CPX function, and numerous models for its mechanism have been proposed. We examined the impact of AH mutations and chimeras on CPX function in vivo and in vitro using C. elegans. The mouse AH fully restored function when substituted into worm CPX suggesting its mechanism is evolutionarily conserved. CPX inhibitory function was impaired when helix propagation into the CH was disrupted whereas replacing the AH with a non-native helical sequence restored CPX function. We propose that the AH operates by stabilizing CH secondary structure rather than through protein or lipid interactions.

Free energy of helix propagation in short polyalanine chains determined from peptide growth simulations of La3+-binding model peptides. Comparison with experimental data.

Molecular dynamics (MD) is, at present, a unique tool making it possible to study, at the atomic level, conformational transitions in peptides and proteins. Nevertheless, because MD calculations are always based on a more or less approximate physical model, using a set of approximate parameters, their reliability must be tested by comparison with experimental data. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find a peptide system in which conformational transitions can be studied both experimentally and using MD simulations so that a direct comparison of the results obtained in both ways could be made. Such a system, containing a rigid alpha-helix nucleus stabilized by La(3+) coordination to a 12-residue sequence taken from an EF-hand protein has recently been used to determine experimentally the helix propagation parameters in very short polyalanine segments (Goch et al. (2003) Biochemistry 42: 6840-6847). The same parameters were calculated here for the same peptide system using the peptide growth simulation method with, alternatively, charmm 22 and cedar potential energy functions. The calculated free energies of the helix-coil transition are about two times too large for cedar and even three times too large for charmm 22, as compared with the experimental values. We suggest that these discrepancies have their origin in the incorrect representation of unfolded peptide backbone in solution by the molecular mechanics force fields.

Helix-coil transition theories. Are they correct?

Principles of contemporary theoretical description of alpha-helix formation by polypeptide chains in water solution are shortly presented and critically discussed. The theory treats the unfolded state of a peptide as "random coil"--an ideal conformation quite distant from reality. We suggest that for this reason the helix propagation parameters of amino-acid residues, determined using series of model peptides with different sequential patterns, are not the same. Interpretation of the so called "nucleation parameter" is erroneous. In fact, it is not determined by the helix nucleation process but rather by a specific situation of residues at the helix N- and C-termini, and it strongly depends on solvation of their NH and CO groups, respectively. Consequently, helical segments with terminal sequences dominated by residues with strongly hydrophobic, bulky side chains can be very unstable. We postulate that an unexpectedly high stability of very short, pre-nucleated helices studied by us arises from a "helix end separation effect": separated helix termini are better solvated than when they overlap each other. Because of this effect, helix initiation may be much more difficult than predicted by the theoretical "helix nucleation parameters".